How do you actually get stronger?

5 key concepts that apply when working on strength and building muscle:

1. Consistency – it’s so common for people to over do it, then stop altogether for a while as they’re burnt out/exhausted/bored.

Find a regular rhythm that is sustainable. If you recognise this in yourself, you probably need to go at a lower intensity so that you can keep consistent.

This is also why I don’t offer ‘drop in’ sessions. It just doesn’t make sense.

2. Protein – Your whole body, down to your cells, need protein for growth and repair. Try aiming for a good amount of protein spread out across the day from a variety of foods.

3. Sleep – if you’re sleep deprived, you eat more and exercise less. Simple as. (though not necessarily easy to solve!)

4. Progressive overload – this is where you increase the intensity over time. There are lots of ways to do this other than just lifting more.

This is the job of a coach to guide you when and how this is appropriate. But if you’ve been doing the same workouts in the same way for a little while, you won’t make any progress.

5. Effort this is something that’s hard to achieve when you’re doing it on your own. You need to feel like it was an effort! That it’s hard.

Not to say you’re ‘thrashing’ yourself each time as that’s not only not enjoyable, it’s not very productive long term as you risk injury, it takes longer to recover as you get older and is just actually unnecessary!

But your heart rate should be up and the weight should feel heavy.

Which one do you struggle with most?